These are the principles I’ve built QA teams around for more than 20 years. Most trace back to articles I’ve written for Game Developer, and all of them come from shipping games.
Quality is built in, not tested in
I’ve never seen quality tested into a game at the end of production. It comes from how a studio designs, builds, and reviews its work. Testing shows where that process is working and where it isn’t.
QA provides information; leadership makes the call
My teams don’t decide what ships. We give producers, directors, and executives a clear read on risk so they can make informed decisions. That means straight answers, including the ones nobody wants to hear.
Quality is everyone’s job, and it’s never about blame
Quality starts at design and continues through live operations. When a bug gets out, the useful question is how the process let it through, not whose fault it was.
Test early, next to the people building the game
An issue caught an hour after it’s created is cheap. The same issue found a year later is expensive and demoralizing. I put testers and engineers in test on feature teams and assess risk during feature design, before code is written.
Embedded testers need a home base
Testers scattered across feature teams drift apart. A QA center of excellence keeps standards, tools, training, and metrics consistent across teams, studios, and outside partners, including vendors working follow-the-sun across time zones.
Spend test time where failure hurts most
Not every feature needs the same coverage. I rank risk by technical likelihood and business impact, then put the effort where a failure would hurt players or the business most.
Automate the repetitive; keep people on the judgment calls
Automation and AI-assisted tools should handle repetitive checks and catch regressions early. Hands-on functional testing by people who understand games stays essential. You can ship a great game without white-box testing, but not without functional testing.
Players are part of the quality loop
At Psyonix I combined QA, customer care, and localization into one Live Support team that worked directly with Rocket League’s communities. Meeting players where they already talk shortens the path from report to fix.
Lean, sustainable teams beat big teams in crunch
Right-sized teams with solid process outperform large teams running on overtime. When an organization has to change size, I work to protect morale and keep hard-won knowledge in the building.
The longer versions are on the Writing page.